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. `INVENTISIR- Zma l LH. sIssoN; HOPPEB `FOR FEBDING BUTTONS, BYBLETS, LA'OING HOOKS,l OR OTHER SUCH ARTIOLBS.v

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I INVENTCIR.

WITN ESEEE- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC II. SISSON, 0F PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

HOPPER FOR FEEDING BUTTONS, EYELETS, LAClNG-HOOKS, OR OTHER SUCH ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 549,467, dated November 5, 1895. Application filed February 12, 1891. Serial No. 381,181. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, ISAAC H. SISSON, a citi` zen of the United States, residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hoppers for Feeding Buttons, Eyelets, Lacing-Hooks, or other Analogous Articles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make' and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specificaiion. j

In machines adapted for attaching to shoes, dto., shoe-buttons, lacing-hooks, eyelets, rivets, or other analogous small articles fed singly from a reservoir or fountain it is very desirable that the mechanism for discharging such buttons, dac., from the hopper to the runway or chute leading `to the anvil or setting mechanism be at all times both readily accessible and visible.

Usually heretofore in hoppers and runways of the class referred to most if not all of the interior parts of such hoppers and runways have been concealed when in use. Sometimes hoppers are provided with positively operated agitators for stirring up and separating the mass of articles therein. Vhen thus constructed, it occasionally happens that the agitator becomes clogged, thereby rendering the machine inoperative. Meanwhile the mechanism must be taken apart to make the necessary repairs or readjustment bef-ore the machine can be operated again, thereby causing considerable loss of time.

The object I have in view in the improvements forming the subject of my present invention is to overcome some of the disadvantages just named as common to hoppers heretofore made.

To that end my invention consists, essentially, of a hopper having a readily-removable transparent face and provided with an apertured movable partition which serves in a measure to separate the hopper into two chambers, viz., a rear or receiving chamlber and the .front or distributing chamber communicating with the former. The hopper is further provided with a mechanicallyoperated vibrating disk or stirrer having brushes or ngers which engage the buttons introduced into the distributing-chamber and discharge them therefrom into the attached runway, the latter also having a removable transparent face. In case the traveling buttons are not properly presented to the mouth of the runway the fingers automatically carry them past into the receiving-chamber to again find their way into the front chamber. The back end of the stirrer-shaft is provided with a spring-clutch, by means of which the stirrer may be temporarily disconnected from the continuously-traveling mechanism when desired and independently operated by hand.

By reason of my improvements the blanks or buttons are more accurately and regularly fed to the discharge-tube or runway, and in case the blanks become clogged, as mayhappen when freshly japanned or from any other cause, the glass-covered or transparent face of the hopper and runway enables the attendant to readily locate the trouble, when frequently a slight jarring at the point or possibly a few turns of the stirrer by hand, after withdrawing the clutch, will remove the cause of the interruption without the necessity of taking the mechanism apart.

In the appended two sheets of drawings, Figure l, Sheet l, is a front elevation of my improved hopper and runway.v Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on line m m of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the runway, taken on line c a; of Fig. l. Fig. 4, Sheet 2, is a front view of the hopper, showing the relation of the brushes, &c., as opposed to the position represented in Fig. l. Fig. 5 is a side elevation showing the clutch withdrawn, and Fig. 6 is a frontview of the movable partition detached.

I would. state before proceeding farther with a detailed description of my invention that the latter is not limited to any particular machine provided with means for attaching the buttons, hooks, blanks, or other articles. Therefore I have deemed it unnecessary to represent a machine of such class complete, it being a common and well-known IOO method to automatically receive buttons, &c. singly from the mouth of a runway and, attach them to leather or other suitable material. I would add, however, that an improved buttonattachin g machine combined with my present improved hopper and runway will form the subject of another application for United States Letters Patent about to be filed by me.

My improved hopper as a whole is indicated by A and the runway by B. The hopper, the., as drawn is suppported by a hollow standard e, secured, say, to the table or base :t of a suitable machine. One side of the standard is slotted, through which extends a head of the toothed rack i, the latter bcing mounted to reciprocate vertically in the standard by means of a suitable reciprocating link fi', jointed thereto by a pin '1f-2.

The hopper-frame I) is provided with acentral hub which is bored out to receive a stirrer-shaft g. The rear portion e of the hopper is made hollow to receive the rack i and is secured to and forms a continuation of the standard. A small toot-hed wheel h is loosely mounted upon the shaft g. The wheel revolves in a housing e2 (shown by dotted lines, Fig.

,1) of the said rear portion e and intergears with the rack-teeth. The hub of the wheel h extends through the rear wall of the `housing and is notched, as at n', to receive a lug n, Figs. 2 and +L, of the spring-clutch 7s, the latter being tit-ted to slide endwise upon akey m, seated in the shaft g. A spring bearing against the adjacent faces of the clutch, and a collar g, secured to the outer end of the shaft, serve when normally workin g to maintain the gear-wheel in clutch.

At the top of the hopper-frame is placed a receiver c, communicating with the throatopening c' of the hopper. This opening conducts the blanks directly into the receivingchamber C, from whence they issue cria the opening p into the front or distributing chamber e'. The interior of the hopper is formed into two chambers c c by means of the thin plate or partition p, the latter being substantially semicircular in shape and having an opening p at the bottom and notches p2 at the upper ends of the plate. (See Fig. 6, the.) The face of the hopper is made preferably circular in form and is recessed to receive the front or covering plate 1, of glass or other suitable transparentmaterial. Springpins t' having lattenedA heads hold the cover in place. The stirrer-disk d is secured to the shaft by a screw g`-`, the hub of the disk as drawn passing loosely through the partition-plate p. It will be seen that the depth or thickness of the front chamber c is or may be the same or slightly greater than the blank across its largest diameter. By this means thc blanks are keptA in substantially the same plane while being acted upon by the iingers f 2 of the stirrer. In case buttonss are to be fed to the runway I, preferably form a eircumscribing groove c2 in the hopper adjacent to the front, the form of the groove being such that the head of the button will rest fairly therein, the shank s at the same time being also guided. (See Fig. 2.)

lThe runway B is fitted to an opening m2, formed at the right in the face of the hopper and communicating with the chamber c', a dowel-pin (k2 shown by dotted lilies) serving to attach and hold the parts together. The front or face of the runway is made of glass t2 or other suitable transparent material, a spring-pin w,havin g a notched head w, Fig. 3, in conjunction with adjustable guides or lugs t1, acting to retain the cover in place. The runway is provided throughout its length with a front chamber yu, communicating with a narrow vertical groove ol slot u', formed at the back. The heads or fronts of the buttons s are introduced into the front chamber 1l, the shanks or eyes s at the same time being guided by the rear groove u. ly this arrangement the buttons are received singly from the hopper by means of the moving brushes f2 and fall by gravity to the mouth of the runway, from which they are checked off by suitable means. As mechanism for this purpose forms no part of my present invention, I have considered it unnecessary to indicate a checking device.

The operation is as follows, assuming, first, however, that the apparatus is adapted, say, to receive and feed shoebuttons s', and that a reciprocating movement is impart-ed to the rack z'. Now upon depositing buttons into the receiving-chamber e some of them immediately enter the front chamber c by means of the opening p', formed in the loose partition-plate p. These are picked up or carried along by the fingers f2, Fig. 4, and some or all of the buttons that have assumed a proper position are brushed into the runway, others being carried upwardly and' over the top edge of the plate. The brushes are so arrangcd'in the disk (l that upon the return stroke (Fig. l shows the commencement of such stroke) any remaining buttons held by them will be brushed into the runway or carried back to the bottom of the chamber, the latter being supplied with buttons from the reservoir or rear chamber c, a-s before stated. During the reciprocations of the brushes back and forth in the distributi11g-chamber, any tendency of the buttons to become clogged' or bridged is immediately corrected by the plate p, because the pressure of buttons at the back causes it to frietionally engage and be carried axi ally back and forth. by and in unison with the disk d; but such axial movement of the plate is quite limited, (see Figs. l and 4, which represent the extreme positions,) stationary stops c4 being used to limit the plates movement.

Then the device isemployed for feeding other articles than-the buttons shown, obviously the form of the rim of th e distributingchamber transversely and the interior of the runway should be modified correspondingly.

IOO

IIO

The mechanism represented is well adapted to be employed independently of any attachingl or setting machine-as, for example, the runway itself may be readily removed when filled, an empty one being substituted therefor and the operation continuously repeated, thereby using the machine simply for filling the tubes B, or the runway may be adapted to receive at its lower end tubes or magazines which are removed as fast as lled, the same forming practically a continuation of the runway itself. As drawn, the lower end of the runway is provided with a spring stop or check U12, which serves to prevent the buttons from falling out. I make no claim, however, to any specific form of stop.

I claim as my inventionl. A hopper having a receiving chamber and a front or distributing chamber, a runway communicating with the latter chamber, loose plate or apertured partition capable of an oscillating movement separating said chambers, and a stirrer mounted to rotate or oscillate back and forth in the distributing chamber.

2. The combination in ahopper, of aloosely mounted apertured partition capable of an oscillating movement, stops for limiting such movement, a stirrer mounted in front of and contiguous to said partition, mechanism for oscillating the stirrer back and forth, and a suitable runway communicating with the hopper, substantially as hereinbefore described.

3. The combination of a hopper provided with a cover through which the interior of the hopper-chamber may be seen, a runway communicating with the hopper-Chamb er provided with a suitable cover, a stirrer mounted in the hopper-chamber, mechanism for actuating the stirrer in an oscillatory manner, an apertured partitionv locatedV at the back of the stirrer and forming a front chamber, as c', between the adjacent faces of said partition and the hopper cover, and means for connecting the stirrer with and disconnecting it from the driving mechanism, substantially as described. Y

4. The hopper, substantially as hereinbefore described, provided with the front or covering plate t, a runway communicating with the hopper having a covering plate t2 and provided with a stop at its lower end for holding the column of buttons in check, an apertured partition adapted to divide the interior of the hopper laterally into receiving and distributing chambers, a stirrer mounted between the adjacent faces of said hopper-cover and partition, driving mechanism for actuating the stirrer, and a slip-clutch adapted to lock the stirrer to or disconnect it from said driving mechanism, all combined and adapted for operation, substantially as hereinbefore described.

5. In a hopper provided with a stirrer and a sliding spring-clutch located on and revolving with the stirrer-shaft, the combination therewith of a guided gear-wheel loosely mounted on the stirrer-shaft arranged to interlock with said clutch, and a toothed rack engaging the gearwheel, whereby an oscil= lating movement is imparted to the stirrer upon reciprocating the rack back and forth, substantially as hereinbefore described.

In testimony whereof I have afixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ISAAC H. SISSON. Witnesses:

CHARLES HANNIGAN, GEO. H. REMINGTON. 

